Bioaccumulation and depuration of anthracene in Penaeus monodon (Fibricius) through food ingestion Pei Thing Ong a , Jaw Chuen Yong b , Kam Yew Chin c , Yii Siang Hii a,⇑ a Faculty of Agrotechnology and Food Science, University Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia b Faculty of Maritime Studies and Marine Science, University Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia c Fisher Scientific (M) Pte Ltd., No. 3, Jalan Sepadu 25/123, Taman Perindustrian Axis, Seksyen 25, 40400 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia article info Article history: Received 25 October 2010 Received in revised form 21 March 2011 Accepted 24 March 2011 Available online 6 May 2011 Keywords: Penaeus monodon Anthracene Bioaccumulation Depuration Food ingestion abstract Understanding on the bioaccumulation and depuration of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in Penaeus monodon is important in seafood safety because it is one of the most popular seafood consumed worldwide. In this study, we used anthracene as the precursor compound for PAHs accumulation and depuration in the shrimp. Commercial feed pellets spiked with anthracene were fed to P. monodon. At 20 mg kg 1 anthracene, P. monodon accumulated 0.1% of the anthracene from the feed. P. monodon deputed the PAH two times faster than its accumulation. The shrimp reduced its feed consumption when anthracene content in the feed exceeded 20 mg kg 1 . At 100 mg kg 1 anthracene, P. monodon started to have necrosis tissues on the posterior end of their thorax. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF), uptake rate constant (k 1 ) and depuration rate constant (k 2 ) of anthracene in P. monodon were 1.15  10 3 , 6.80  10 4 d 1 and 6.28  10 1 d 1 , respectively. The depuration rate constant is about thousand times higher than the uptake rate constant and this indicated that this crustacean is efficient in depurating hydrocarbons from their tissue. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are fused-ring aro- matic compounds found during the fossil fuel combustion, oil spills and discharge from industrial processes. PAHs are ubiquitously distributed in the environment (Bonnet et al., 2005) and pose sig- nificant risks to the environment, organisms and human health be- cause of their persistence and hydrophobic characteristics (Mohammadi and Nasernejad, 2009). PAHs could accumulate in aquatic organisms and it is possible to be transferred through food chain (Bowling et al., 1983). United States of Environmental Pro- tection Agency (USEPA) had categorized 16 prioritized PAHs for monitoring based on their toxicity, mutagenic and carcinogenic po- tential and anthracene is one of them. Anthracene was used as the precursor compound in this study because of its chronic effect on aquatic organisms (Neff, 2002). Besides, the three benzene rings structure of the anthracene is similar to other carcinogenic PAHs such as benzo(a)pyrene and benzo(a)anthracene (Bonnet et al., 2005; Pothuluri and Cernigglia, 1994). Unlike other PAHs, anthracene has yet to be proven to be carcinogenic but it is listed as one of the very high concern com- pounds by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) (Samanta et al., 2002). Anthracene could be absorbed from oral and dermal exposure through skin, hematopoietic system, lymphoid system and gastrointestinal tract (Bonnet et al., 2005). Anthracene is water-insoluble with Log K ow 4.54 (Neff, 2002) and it absorbs strongly to particulate matter, soils and sediment in the aquatic environment. When this compound binds to particles and settle on the sea bottom, it may be consumed by benthic organisms. The accumulated anthracene in shrimp may be biomagnify to man through consumption. Accumulation of PAHs had been reported in other organisms such as anthracene in protozoan (Bonnet et al., 2005), pyrene in polychaetes (Christensen et al., 2002) and PAHs in mussels (Perez-Cadahia et al., 2004). However, bioaccumulation and depuration of anthracene in Penaeus monodon has not been revealed till date though it is widely consumed seafood cultured in the South East Asia. This study focuses on bioaccumulation and depuration of anthracene in black tiger shrimp. This study aims to provide baseline on the levels and trends of anthracene accumulation via food ingestion by P. monodon. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Testing organism P. monodon, the black tiger shrimps weighed 14–16 g (15.3 ± 2.4 g; length: 4.2 ± 0.9 cm) were purchased from local 0045-6535/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.03.059 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 9 668 3141; fax: +60 9 668 3434. E-mail address: hii@umt.edu.my (Y.S. Hii). Chemosphere 84 (2011) 578–584 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemosphere journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere